Anthony Centore

Anthony Centore, Ph.D., is private practice consultant for the ACA, founder of Thriveworks Counseling (with locations in 9 states), and author of the book, How to Thrive in Counseling Private Practice. Anthony is a licensed counselor in Massachusetts and Virginia. Find him on Twitter at @anthonycentore or @Thriveworks.

A Focus on Counseling Client Education
Expectations are everything; and getting buy-in for how things work at your practice is an important part of facilitating happy, satisfied, clients. However, too often client education and informed consent resembles the oft-ignored “terms of use” contract in iTunes. Clients are handed a sheet with 2,000 words of 10-point text and asked to sign (or click “I agree”) to move forward.

Scope of the Problem
Nearly 1 in 5 Americans have had a diagnosable mental health condition in the last year. i In fact, according to the World Health Organization, five of the 10 leading causes of disability are mental health issues.ii

The Entrepreneur’s Nerves are not Made of Steel
Building and sustaining a business is a day-in, day-out war between uncertainty and perseverance. Make few bad decisions or take your “eye off the ball” for just a minute, and it could be “game over.” As an entrepreneur, your ability to persist through prolonged times of risk and stress is as important to your company's survival as it is your own.

It’s a paradox that for all the time we counselors spend communicating with persons in session, many of us are by nature introspective and introverted (and sometimes even reclusive) individuals. This serves us well as counselors — counseling is in fact isolating work — but our introverted dispositions can handicap us as promoters of our private practices.